2008 Nascar Sprint Cup Series
The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season began on February 9, 2008 at Daytona International Speedway with the 2008 Budweiser Shootout, followed by pole qualifying on Sunday, February 10, 2008 for the 50th Daytona 500 on February 17. Due to the merger in 2005 of Sprint and Nextel, NASCAR's premier series was known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series beginning with the 2008 season, crowning the first champion under the new Sprint sponsorship. The series has no connection with Sprint car racing, as NASCAR uses stock car bodies. Coors Light also replaced Budweiser as Official Beer of NASCAR, thereby becoming the new sponsor of the Pole Award given to the pole winner in each Sprint Cup Series race. However, Budweiser was still the official sponsor for Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway in February. Car of Tomorrow NASCAR announced on May 22, 2007 that all Sprint Cup races would utilize the Car Of Tomorrow (CoT) template which was a year ahead of their original timetable, which would have the full-time use of the single car template in 2009, after 80% of all owners were in favor of moving to the CoT full-time one year ahead so that they would not race with two sets of rules for all but ten races. The cars approved for the 2008 season were the Chevrolet Impala, the Dodge Charger, the Ford Fusion and the Toyota Camry. Dodge had used the Dodge Avenger in the 2007 CoT races, but stated that the Charger would be used full-time in 2008. Economic problems affect NASCAR The Economic crisis of 2008, caused NASCAR'S blue collar fans, which makes up a large part of their fan base, to feel the pinch with high gas prices over $4 a gallon. While some tracks saw attendnce shrink, others like Bristol Motor Speedway still sold out. Daytona International Speedway sold out the Daytona 500, but not the Coke Zero 400. Some track ticket packages now included all-you-can-eat deals, and tracks also offered nearby campgrounds to entice those who come for several days to see Nationwide Series and Craftsman Truck Series races. For their fall race, Lowe's Motor Speedway offered discounts on local hotel rooms, novelties and food and drink. The teams were affected by the economy themselves with high diesel fuel prices, with that fuel needed to power the semi-trailer trucks which transport the race cars to and from racetracks. Teams were also affected because sponsorships grew increasingly harder to come by, further increasing the gap between teams. Before the season began, a few teams announced that they weren't going to be able to participate this season. Tommy Hart Racing was the first team to announce that they wren't going to race because they had no major sponsor on the # and # cars that they run in the series, as a result the team furloughed most of their employees. Richard Foley Racing announced that they were going to take the season off to restructure and refocus their race team because of their lack of proformance. Top teams also stuggled. Racing becoming the first major victim, when due to a lack of sponsorship they had to cut back to one piecemeal team, as a result nearly 100 employees were let go. Other companies also switched teams for 2008 or planned to for 2009. Caterpillar Inc., despite their long relationship with Blackburn Motorsports and its flagship #51, desided to withdraw their sponsorship for the 2008 season and planned to consider their options. General Mills, who associated it's brand with White Enterprises since 2000, also left the sport for the 2008 season. To try and counter the economic crises some teams were considering taking on financial partners. One such team was White Enterprises, who was considering selling a majority share of the team, but in July those plans were put on hold when the team found sponsorship to run rookie Ashley McDonald full time in the #46. The team said that selling a majority of the team could be reconsidered after the season has ended. Teams and drivers 2008 Sprint Cup Schdule ♦''' - Qualifying rained out. Starting order set by owner's points. '''≠ − Non points race involving pole sitters from 2007 races. ₡''' - Starting order determined by random draw. '''‡ - Front Row is set for Daytona 500. ₪''' − Race to set fields for Daytona 500. '''† — Non points races. ♣ — Race will either be run at night, or start in the late afternoon, and finish under lights.